‣THREE QUESTIONS TO KLARA RAVAT

You’ve been in Chemnitz (travelling) for a few weeks now:
What are your impressions of the city? Did you notice anything in particular? Why? What differences do you see compared to your home city of Berlin, for example?

Klara: “Chemnitz, the “land” of empty buildings. I’m really impressed by the amount of space and the empty buildings throughout the city. This emptiness gives me the impression of unlimited possibilities – to make and let things happen. It’s as if the empty spaces are fuelling my daydreams. Inevitably, many questions about space and living come to mind: “What would happen if I moved to Chemnitz? Would I one day be able to afford to buy an entire building in this city? Could I take up residence in one of these buildings and convert it into a giant odour laboratory? Would people from Berlin come round if I got a minibus at the weekends?” Fantasising about the possibilities of the space. What also fascinates me is the large number of gardens and how committed the people who run them are. In a city that seems quite quiet and tranquil, I think community building and meeting places are a must to keep it connected.“

As part of the 2020 Von Sinnen dialogue fields, you are focusing on the sense of smell: are there any impressions that you draw from the Sonnenberg in particular? What are they specifically? How are these reflected in your work?

Klara: “At the moment, I find the smells of the Sonnenberg neighbourhood quite neutral. As the spaces are so spacious and hardly any gatherings of people are possible at the moment due to the COVID regulations, the odours are dissipating. I wonder whether the urban planning and the almost non-existent odour go hand in hand. During the wonderful tour that Octavio and Lisa from Bordsteinlobby e.V. organised on the first few days in the city, I learned that Chemnitz used to smell a lot like Trabant oil and that pollution from the surrounding open-cast mines was virtually taking over the city.
So the (apparent) odour neutrality must be something really important for everyone and for the history of the city. It’s almost like a figurehead, a kind of beacon. The neutral scent reminds us to forget and leave behind who we were and hints at who we want to be.
The tabula rasa or white-scented canvas sparks my imagination, just like the empty buildings do. What would happen if a foreigner – which I am – not only rethought the smells of Sonnenberg, but also recreated them? What if I told a fictional story of imaginative scents of the Sonnenberg?”

Can you give us a little preview of the work that will be created? What can visitors to the presentation week from 12 December to 18 December look forward to?

Klara: “Because of the current world madness, I’ve been very interested in self-care experiences lately and how to create rituals – how to give people space to process everything we’re going through in the art context.
For example, in Berlin I created an all-white space, including a large white cushion (7 metres) in a gallery space in Berlin-Mitte. The space was scented with sea and air odours, and I designed a repetitive droning sound to help visitors relax. I wanted people to be able to come and stay in the space for as long as they needed to. A break from the pandemic and their private lives.
Here at Sonnenberg, I’m working to combine those self-care practices with the neutral aromas of the neighbourhood. To this end, I have designed a ritual self-care rug that is made from wool. The rug contains various symbols woven into it. They are representations of my own healing and caring practices. I realise that this is very private and not everyone could relate to it, so I want to share my practices and bring them to a more personal (rather than private) level – the connection between the smell of the neighbourhood and what we can do to feel better by imagining what scents we could create together for a better future.”